SUBMIOTTED BY ARTHUR N1ORC - AMSAT A/C #31468
*On-Orbit Station Construction Continues*
The International Space Station grew Tuesday when the STS-116 crew
installed the P5 integrated truss segment. The P5 was attached at 5:45
p.m. EST.
The construction work was performed by STS-116 spacewalkers Bob Curbeam
and Christer Fuglesang and robot arm operators Joan Higginbotham and
Sunita Williams. The P5 spacer segment’s attachment to the P4 sets the
stage for the addition of the P6 and its set of solar arrays.
Two more spacewalks are scheduled during STS-116’s stay to reconfigure
and redistribute power generated by the station’s newest solar arrays.
The spacewalks are set for Thursday and Saturday.
The P5’s installation is not the only change that the station has
undergone since Space Shuttle Discovery docked Monday. Williams, who
arrived at the station with the STS-116 mission, replaced European Space
Agency Astronaut Thomas Reiter on the Expedition 14 crew at midnight
Tuesday.
Williams will remain a member of Expedition 14 until Commander Michael
Lopez-Alegria and Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin are relieved by
Expedition 15 in March 2007. Williams will finish her remaining time of
her six-month tour of duty on the station as a member of Expedition 15
crew.
Reiter will wrap up a five-month stay on the station when he leaves with
STS-116 next week. He arrived at the station in July with the STS-121
mission to give the station its first three-member crew since May 2003.
He was a member of Expedition 13 until Expedition 14 began its tour of
duty in September.
The crew rotation became official when their custom-made seatliners were
swapped out in the Soyuz spacecraft docked to the station.
Also, the Expedition 14 and STS-116 crews will conduct a week of joint
operations. In addition to the spacewalks, they will transfer cargo
between the vehicles. Discovery and its crew are scheduled to stay at
the station until Dec. 18.
For the latest news and information on STS-116, visit the main shuttle
page. + Read more
<http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/main/index.html>
+ Read more about Expedition 14
<http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/expeditions/expedition14/index.html>
+ View crew's daily timelines
<http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/timelines/index.html>
NASA and the Russian Federal Space Agency have named two astronauts and
two cosmonauts to the next International Space Station crew, known as
Expedition 15. Astronauts Clayton Anderson and Daniel Tani will travel
to the station next year and work as flight engineers. Cosmonauts Fyodor
Yurchikhin and Dr. Oleg Kotov will spend six months aboard the orbiting
laboratory.
+ Read more about Expedition 15
<http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/expeditions/expedition15/index.html>
+ Read the press release
<http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2006/oct/HQ_06337_new_station_crew.html>